Often an individual desires a light focused to illuminate an area while performing a task or a light directed in a general forwardly direction along their line of sight for visibility. Holding a flashlight is an option, but such lighting devices are often cumbersome and may detract from the task being completed because only one hand is available for the task since the other hand is holding the flashlight. As a result, hands-free lighting is desirable so that both hands are available for performing a task in lighted conditions.
Headgear is known that may include light sources attached so as to illuminate an area within the wearer's line of vision. The light source may be an LED mounted to a brim portion of a baseball style hat. Generally, these hats have the LED mounted to direct light forwardly from the brim so that the LED axis is parallel with the fore-and-aft brim axis.
The lighted hat can be displayed on a store shelf in a manner so that a potential purchaser can operate an activation switch to turn on the light source. To this end, the hat may be provided to the store with a power source already included so that the light source can be activated by the consumer. However, because the lighted hat may be shipped in bulk to the store with the power source included, the power source can be unintentionally activated through contact of the activation switch with an adjacent one of the packed hats. In particular, where the activation switch is positioned on the hat brim, the light source can be inadvertently turned on during shipping by the hat brim of one hat engaging or depressing the activation switch of another hat nested therewith. Moreover, a user can leave the light source activated after the user is finished using it. For example, after a user has finished using the lighted hat, the user can leave the hat with the light source still activated. Any of these actions undesirably drains the power source so that a subsequent user might not be able to activate the light source.
To this end, it is beneficial to provide rechargeable batteries and a solar panel to recharge the batteries on a lighted hat. One such lighted hat is described in WO 2007/073219 and commercially available by 2C Light Company Limited. More particularly, the '219 application discloses a lighted hat having a completely integrated solar light brim. The brim is formed by layers of plastic and rubber having electronic components received in therebetween. The top of the brim includes a transparent layer of plastic having a rubber strip extending around the perimeter thereof leaving a central transparent portion that extends across a majority of the brim. The bottom of the brim includes a transparent layer of plastic with a pair of dome-shaped downward projections that form compartments therein and a rubber coating applied over the layer of plastic except for forward lens portions of the dome-shaped downward projections. One of the dome-shaped projections includes a downward facing opening therein that is covered by a flexible membrane. The top and bottom of the brim are sealed or molded together with the electronics received therebetween.
The electronics of the '219 hat include a solar panel aligned with the central translucent portion, a pair of light sources mounted within the compartments of the dome-shaped projections to shine light through the non-rubber coated forward lens portions thereof, rechargeable batteries received in each of the dome-shaped projections, and a pushbutton switch mounted in the one of the dome-shaped projections and aligned with the flexible membrane extending over the downward opening. Wires extend across the brim between the top and bottom portions thereof to connect the various components disposed in the separated dome-shaped projections. As is apparent, the construction of this brim is complicated and costly. Moreover, the electronics are sealed within the brim and are spread out over the width of the brim. While many people might be able to pay for the cost associated with such a construction, a person in poverty without a reliable source of energy may not be able to afford the luxury of the rechargeable light provided by a hat as disclosed in the '219 application.